E s to Fs with first pedal on E9th neck

[Brad Malone]

Keith, Was the C# lever invented when Buck recorded most of his songs? I thought that pedal was invented after Buck recorded most of his material. I know the high string was G# to A and the 2nd string had the E to F# pull but I'm not sure that they were using the E to F pull at that time. TIA

[Paul Redmond]

Keith, your post is right on. What a novel concept. An artist using his/her own band on recordings. Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys, Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, Loretta Lynn and the Coal Miners, Del Reeves and the Goodtime Charlies, Hank Williams and the Drifting Cowboys, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Barbara Mandrell and the Do-Right's, man, the list goes on. It's been about 40 years since artists did this. It's about time they did it again. That's the way it used to be in all facets of music. You recorded with your own band/group. What happened? Nashville-produced music sales is on a bad decline at present while 'Indie' music sales are going through the roof. Duh!!!! The Nashville Mafia and their Wall Street accomplices ought to sit up and take notice of this fact, but they probabaly won't. They'll keep churning out the same old generic one-size-fits-all-so-called Country stuff until they get the picture. No one wants that crap they're force-feeding the public, and making them believe that's 'real' country music. They just about have an entire generation believing that this garbage is 'real' country music. It's actually pathetic, non-descript garbage. The phony Southern accents and the 'edgy' steel and fiddle parts. Yechhhh!!! Back when the stars recorded with their own groups, we had some good stuff to listen to and learn from. This assembly-line country stuff has about run its course IMO and I would venture a guess that Dwight's album will make a bunch of the mobsters sit up and take notice. 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' sure took them by surprise. I guess they didn't learn enough from that lesson, so it'll take additional 'tutoring' to change the thinking in the Nashville/Wall Street community. Thanks, Dwight, for your efforts. Did I mention Justin Trevino who just wails on some of that good stuff we'd all love to hear again? God bless that man for his fine music and his defiance of the assembly-line, slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am regimen we now get force-fed to us over the airwaves on a daily basis. Sure didn't happen in Nashville!! And it won't!! I believe the pendulum has swung about as far askew as it will and real, honest country music will again reign supreme. It'll take a concerted effort on the part of the 'Indies' and other-than-mainstream radio formats to see this through. But it will happen. There is a huge, gigantic segment of the population out there that merely wants to hear good country music in its proper context. Their needs and desires are not being met. That reflects poor market practices on the part of the establishment that controls what we are forced to listen to and to purchase. Why are 'oldies' stations still doing so well after playing the same 2000 songs for the past three decades? They're playing what the public wants to hear, not what some moguls want to force-feed us for the sake of a buck.
Much success with this 'Buck' tribute album, Dwight. We may just be able to hear good old country music again on the radio airwaves of America without opting for some dish networks or the like.
PRR

[Brad Malone]

Hey Paul, I hate to disagree with you because I know in my heart I feel the same way about country music as you do but my head tells me that what we liked in our generation is not liked or cared about by most of the younger generation. THe majority of music is probably purchased by people between 10 and 25 years old..after that people go on to other things, like buying houses, having children, paying for clothing and college and the list goes on. The people that market music know where the dollar is and that is what they aim for. It makes me sick when I see some of these punks spew their Hip-Hop trash and a million teenage people are clapping and making heros out of these punks...but that's the way it is and I or you cannot change that fact. I hear older people, that are not musicians, say they hate the modern country music but they are the one's, for the most part, that have not bought a record or CD in 20 years...the market men are aware of those facts so they do not even listen to what the older crowd says. Look at our own SGF, we get maybe 20 posts a day under Pedal Steel...Paul we have 300 million people in the USA...that has to tell you something and sad but true, there is little interest about what guys like you and me have interest in.

[Paul Redmond]

Brad - While it hurts to agree with you, you're RIGHT ON!!! If I can disagree with you on one thing, Ernest Tubb Record Shops now have seven stores in the US and their sales people have told me over the years that they intend to keep on expanding as it's difficult to keep up with the sales pace they presently enjoy. The ET Midnight Jamboree is now heard world-wide and seen by anyone who has the necessary stuff in their PC's to watch it. Their online sales to, yes, older people is tremendous in volume...world-wide!!! While it's true that the kids buy all this off-the-wall junk and spend all those bucks doing so, there is still a huge, somewhat-untapped market out there for 'our' kind of music that the Nashville/Wall Street crowd is not addressing. Country Music Greats and some of the other internet outlets are showing a rapid increase in sales in recent years. No, you can't run down to your local music store and buy the stuff you'd like off the shelves, but you CAN get all this good stuff off the internet. THAT is cutting into 'establishment' sales badly and they acknowledge that fact. Add to that Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Channel (which is super IMO) and other true country music channels, and the spin-off effect has to be tremendous relating to overall sales loss by the 'establishment' companies. The handwriting has been on the wall for years. Sooner or later we will do whatever it takes to get ahold of 'our' type of music and it seems by all outward appearances that we're doing just that.
Re: the Forum responses, for every one person who registers a beef about today's music, there are probably hundreds who simply don't. That's also why bad politicians keep getting elected!!! Apathy!!!
PRR

[Brad Malone]

Singer Miley Cyrus is one of the highest paid teenagers on the planet - despite not yet being able to drive a car.

The 15-year-old Hannah Montana star, daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, made her debut on Forbes magazine's 20 Top-Earning Young Superstars Under 25 list on Tuesday, ranking 17th with an annual income of $3.5 million.

The actress/singer looks set to rise up the list in the next year with tickets from her sold-out concert tour selling for more than $2,500 each.

Twin moguls Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen ranked fourth after amassing $17 million each, while Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe, 18, took fifth position by banking $15 million.

Hey Paul, It probably took ET 20 years to do 3.5 mil, Hannah is only 15 years old...go figure

[b0b]

Talk about topic drift! A question about the F pedal on a Fender 400 ends up being about Hannah Montana's earnings!

I've closed it because it's gone way off topic for the Pedal Steel section of the forum.